Devin Townsend v. Offer Your Posts

[seasonsinthesky]

The production is the best part of Terria IMO.

That's cool. I'm glad when people can love things I don't like. I have given it a ton of chances, but the drums just bug me to no end. I'm also just not into a lot of the songs.

But I'm glad people dig it. Anytime anyone likes anything Dev, it's a win-win, even if it's not my kind of thing.

That was his first attempt at digging out of the Physicist mix-hole. He did pretty well, comparably.

I love Terria. The only song I find pretty meh is "Mountain," but I don't mind it.

The real problem, imo, is the sequencing. Try moving "Mountain" later in the album, like after "Down & Under" (or delete it altogether and put "Universal"* in this spot).

*"Universal" is not the hidden track. That is called "Humble."

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Devin got his wall of sound signature sound right until DTP, I think. I love Terria, but that's not his best sounding record in a million years. Adding tens of layers to your recording is not easy, but Devin got it right after some time.

[Sacul]

I think Devin's most layered albums are better appreciated with a good sound system, otherwise they sound like shit.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

I think Devin's most layered albums are better appreciated with a good sound system, otherwise they sound like shit.

Agree. They are so full of shit that they easily sound muffled.

That being said, Deconstruction sounds amazing even with 1500 things going on at the same time.

[Adami]

Yea deconstruction might be the pinnacle for the wall of sound. Z2 was a step up from Epicloud which I think suffered from almost no cymbals. Huge kick, snare and toms but virtually no cymbals. Ended up sounded way too robotic. Z2 still suffers from this but is better.

[KevShmev]

Terria's non-perfect production helps make it even more awesome, if that makes sense.  The rawness of it, in the writing and sound, is why it is is so amazing.

[WebRaider]

Am I the only one who really doesn't care much for Terria?

Earth Day is great, as is Deep Peace, but I never cared for much else. The production also really turns me off. The newer live versions of some of those songs are much easier to listen to.

I can't get into that album either, and I've been trying for years. The two songs you mentioned are among his best, but I don't care for the rest. The production is a bit weird, the bass drum just sounds awful.

I love most all of Dev's stuff but I probably have Terria lower than most as well. Its not bad but definitely lower tier for me.

[WebRaider]

Apart from these 3 songs it was solid all the way through, Funeral and Life are right behind those 3, and not by much. So I'm pretty impressed, next album is probably going to be Ziltoid.

You should really listen to Ziltoid after you've listened to everything that preceded it (specifically SYL). The album has an auto-biographical quality to it, specifically regarding his time with SYL, that will get lost if you don't listen to it appreciating the context of the album's release... which is that it was released in the time between winding up SYL and quitting the music industry altogether, albeit for only a year.

...and I'll embrace the hell out of the whacky Ziltoid.

...and this is why. The first Ziltoid album really isn't that whacky, overall. I'd say it's only the first three songs that embrace the silliness, then it segues into an unusual blend of wistful and slightly downbeat mixed with SYL aggression (largely in the backing tracks) and a tinge of otherworldliness...

...and I absolute love it for it. It's a really unique album, I just get a bit frustrated at it being labelled a comedy album as it's only that on a superficial level.

Z² is a more consistently silly album, though.

You were right in that it's not really all that quirky of an album musically, the story is a bit off-putting in that sense, but I still liked the album. I guess I had March of the Poozers (I think that's what it was called) in my head when thinking of this, which is Z², thought it would be kinda similar.

I want to listen to SYL's City, overall I don't think I'll like the musical direction of that band as much (they did thrash stuff or something right?), but City has definitely gotten me interested.

If you're worried about the thrashy aspect I dunno If I'd go with City... Alien is another good one IMO by them but maybe slightly less in that vein. I like most of the SYL material but I think I prefer Alien.

[goo-goo]

I think Devin's most layered albums are better appreciated with a good sound system, otherwise they sound like shit.

Agree. They are so full of shit that they easily sound muffled.

That being said, Deconstruction sounds amazing even with 1500 things going on at the same time.

Was Deconstruction remastered in the Contain Us boxset?

[Crow]

train, if you want wacky devy, go for Deconstruction

[Metro]

I think Devin's most layered albums are better appreciated with a good sound system, otherwise they sound like shit.

Agree. They are so full of shit that they easily sound muffled.

That being said, Deconstruction sounds amazing even with 1500 things going on at the same time.

Was Deconstruction remastered in the Contain Us boxset?

Yes

[jakepriest]

Am I the only one who really doesn't care much for Terria?

Earth Day is great, as is Deep Peace, but I never cared for much else. The production also really turns me off. The newer live versions of some of those songs are much easier to listen to.

You're not alone. I can't get through Terria in one sitting. Kind of in the same vein as Synchestra.

[Train of Naught]

I don't want anything except going through the discography, it's just a matter of what order it'll be in. Will check out City and Alien either way, I mean I don't like a shit ton of thrash but I still heard a lot of Overkill Megadeth and Metallica growing up so I like some of it.

As for Deconstruction, I'll consider it.

[Scorpion]

So what's going to be your next Devin album, Train of Naught?

[Train of Naught]

So what's going to be your next Devin album, Train of Naught?

Ups, I didn't update it here but I listened to Deconstruction yesterday, I was shockingly impressed after the first listen. Apparently The Might Masturbator is one of the fan favorites and rightfully so, I thought it was fucking genius. Other standouts were Stand, Planet of the Apes and title-track to a lesser extent.

It was pretty hard to get through the end though, 'twas pretty overwhelming, and probably for that reason I wasn't at all interested in Poltergeist.

Haven't had time for the next album but I'll continue this weekend, I think the next will be Epicloud or Ki, I sampled some of the SYL albums and I didn't really like it, at some point I'll try to listen to them in full though.

[Scorpion]

Decon is pretty taxing a listen, and I like most of the songs individually (except for Pandemic, that one never really resonated with me), but it's not an album that I seek out to listen to beginning to end very often.

[Train of Naught]

Well, that's the end of my first time hearing Epicloud, I like it.

Heard Kingdom twice before, once when I never heard anything by Devin before, and I thought it was boring, the second time I was a bit more familiar with his music and I had heard CoC and a couple of separate songs at the time, I thought it was way better but still not special.
Now, hearing the whole album, it's easily one of the standout songs. I really like the whole 'wall of sound' concept and with the multi-layered vocals on this album it's really great. I think it's my favorite album so far, even against the likes of Ocean Machine and Deconstruction, still after only one listen though.

Other standouts besides Kingdom include Lucky Animals, Save Our Now and Angel. But really the whole album was consistent as hell.

[cramx3]

Save Our Now 

[jakepriest]

Both Save Our Now and Angel seem really underappreciated to me. They are my two favourite songs off Epicloud, followed closely by Hold On and More!.

What album are you going for next?

[Train of Naught]

Currently thinking Synchestra or Accelerated Evolution, I'm open to suggestions at this point though.

Also, Terria is up right after whatever album I choose to listen to next, I figured it's probably something I would like a lot (I heard Deep Peace when Genowyn tried to explain his tastes for chill music in his roulette) but I want to wait with it for just one more album.

[Basekick]

Accelerated Evolution is my favorite Devin Townsend album...so go with that one 

[Sacul]

Accelerated Evolution is pretty  , so go for it.

[cramx3]

Accelerated Evolution is pretty  , so go for it.

[Kwyjibo]

Accelerated Evolution is pretty  , so go for it.

He's right you know.

[TioJorge]

Fourth'd.

[Scorpion]

Deadhead - Suicide might be my favourite one-two-punch from Devin's career.

Though Bastard - The Death of Music might come close. But still, AE is absolutely necessary listening for those two songs alone.

[Basekick]

Deadhead - Suicide might be my favourite one-two-punch from Devin's career.

I feel that Suicide is the most underrated Devin Townsend song.  It's incredibly emotional, one of the few with a passionate guitar solo, and holy balls does it hit like a ton of bricks.

So good.

[Train of Naught]

Accelerated Evolution is pretty  , so go for it.

Went for it.

This is probably my least favorite album so far honestly, I really didn't like the almost poppy vocals near the end. First half was pretty  and I especially liked Depth Charge and Deadhead, also Suicide was pretty good. But from Traveller onwards it got less interesting.

Can't like 'em all  here's to more luck with my next one (Terria).

[Scorpion]

Terria is the best them.

Also I felt similar to you on first listens of AE, but after a couple of listens I really got into Away (which I found too meandering on first listen), Sunday Afternoon and Slow Me Down. Traveller is now the only song on the album that I'm not a huge fan of.

[jakepriest]

I wish I could hear Earth Day for the first time again. Such a magnificent song. 
The rest of Terria is pretty meh though.

[Train of Naught]

Yeah I know nothing will be perfect after just one listen, I'm thrilled to go back to this page a year from now to see how different my first reactions were from then.

I don't want to set the bar too high for Terria but from what I've heard it sounds pretty awesome and up my alley.

[Scorpion]

Earth Day isn't even top half of Terria for me.

Still an amazing song, but that album is #2 of all time for me, so "amazing" doesn't quite cut it.

[Onno]

Terria is mindblowing.

[Phoenix87x]

Terria is my favorite by him

[cramx3]

Terria is the best them.

Also I felt similar to you on first listens of AE, but after a couple of listens I really got into Away (which I found too meandering on first listen), Sunday Afternoon and Slow Me Down. Traveller is now the only song on the album that I'm not a huge fan of.

Love Sunday Afternoon, I also love Traveller too but thats because I like traveling.